Sobbing and screaming, Claire crawled back and dragged him out through the thick smoke.

His shirt was soaked in blood, and his breathing was faint.

The Quinn Group bodyguards and the ambulance arrived, forcing the attackers back.

On the way to the hospital, she clutched his hand tightly, tears falling onto his face. "You can't die... I forgive everything you've done... as long as you still love me..."

In that moment, betrayal, engagement, pride, none of it mattered anymore.

She only wanted him to live.

Once they reached the hospital, Ethan was taken straight to the ICU. His condition was critical, and the massive blood loss had nearly killed him.

Without hesitation, Claire donated blood three times. Even after showing signs of anemia herself, she still insisted on giving more blood for Ethan.

After Ethan was out of immediate danger, Claire stayed outside his room day and night.

At last, the attending physician gave a nod. "You may go in for ten minutes only. He's not awake yet, so keep quiet."

Claire took a deep breath and gently pushed the door open.

He lay in the hospital bed with his eyes closed, his face ashen, his left shoulder wrapped in thick bandages.

Claire's eyes stung as she stepped forward, wanting to touch his face.

"Ethan!" Sophie rushed into the hospital room. The moment she saw Claire, her face hardened. "What are you doing here? You're not welcome."

Claire frowned at Sophie, but remembering that Ethan needed rest and quiet, she stepped out of the room.

Sophie said bluntly, "Don't come back again. Ethan and I are getting engaged next week. I don't want any trouble before the wedding."

Claire felt as if she had been struck by lightning. Ever since Ethan saved her, she had wanted to ask whether he was really going to marry Sophie.

But now she no longer had to ask. On Sophie's hand was a dazzling diamond ring, a pear-shaped stone set in a platinum twisted band.

It was the very ring she had pointed at in a jewelry store window five years ago when she told Ethan, "When we get married one day, I want this one."

Back then, he had smiled and ruffled her hair. "Okay. I'll save up and buy it for you."

Now that ring was on Sophie's finger.

Sophie blocked her path and refused to let her near Ethan's room. "He needs peace and quiet. And we're getting engaged next week."

Staring at the ring, Claire's voice trembled. "How... how do you have that?"

"Because he gave it to me, of course." Sophie lifted her hand and deliberately showed it off. "He said this was the design he picked out five years ago, and he'd been waiting all this time to give it to me."

Claire went rigid.

All at once, she found it laughable.

So he had remembered every word she ever said, only the person beside him had changed to Sophie.

"Congratulations." She said it softly, then turned and walked away without looking back.

A little over ten minutes later, Ethan finally woke up.

As the nurse changed his dressing, she said with a sigh, "It's a miracle you survived, especially after losing that much blood. You owe a lot to Ms. Sterling. She donated blood three times in a row and nearly fainted in the donation room."

Ethan grabbed the nurse's wrist at once. "Claire? She donated blood for me?"

"Yes. She stayed outside for three whole days and only relaxed after the doctor said you were out of danger."

His eyes burned, and he nearly laughed with relief.

She still loved him.

She had been there all along.

He struggled to get out of bed. "Where is she? I need to see her!"

Just then, Sophie rushed in and threw herself beside the bed. "Ethan! You're finally awake! I was so worried about you!"

Ethan shoved her away. "Where's Claire?"

"She..." Sophie bit her lip, jealousy flashing through her eyes. "She left. I heard she met some rich man overseas and is already engaged."

Ethan's gaze turned icy. "Shut up."

"It's true!" Sophie threw her arms around him, tears streaming down her face. "Stop thinking about her! I'm the only one who truly loves you! Let's get married, okay?"

Ethan shoved her off with one sharp motion, his voice cold. "Even if Claire never comes back for the rest of her life, I would never marry you."

Sophie's face turned deathly ashen as her nails dug into her palm.

Regret hit her hard. If she had known this would happen, she should have had Claire killed outside the hospital earlier.

Claire returned to the company and calmly walked into Human Resources. "I accept the three-year Doplaytho assignment. I can leave right away."

That very night, Claire boarded a flight to Belleford.

She decided she would never be tangled up with Ethan again. Loving him had hurt too much, but hating him hurt even more. So she chose to leave him behind forever. From then on, the world was wide, the sky open, and they would never meet again.

Ignoring his condition, Ethan stormed out of the hospital, his mind consumed by a single thought—find Claire.

The doctors had warned he needed at least a month of bed rest. The gunshot wound in his left shoulder hadn't healed, his ribs were still fractured, and fluid remained in his lungs.

But when the nurse pushed the door open with his medication, all she found was an empty bed—and the IV line torn loose, dangling to the floor.

Every step tore at his wounds, pain ripping through him as cold sweat soaked his hospital gown. He didn't care.

Claire was gone.

The woman he had dragged back from Adrian's gunpoint with his life on the line. The one he had clung to even in unconsciousness. She had left again.

He didn't care anymore whether she had betrayed him. Didn't care who she had married five years ago. None of it mattered. None of it.

She had given him her blood. Stayed with him while he clawed his way back from hell. That was enough.

He knew she still loved him. That was enough.

Ethan had clawed his way up from nothing to where he stood now—for one reason only. To take Claire back.

To love her, and be loved by her—that had always been his only wish.

A black Mercedes-Maybach screeched to a halt at the hospital entrance.

He collapsed into the back seat, his voice rough like it had been scraped raw. "Take me to the company. Now."

The driver caught sight of his bloodless face and the bandages seeping through in the rearview mirror, and slammed the accelerator, speeding toward Quinn Group.

Quinn Group Headquarters. Executive Floor.

The elevator chimed open—and everyone froze.

Ethan stepped out, bracing himself against the wall. His suit jacket barely concealed the hospital gown beneath, damp strands of hair clinging to his forehead. His eyes were bloodshot, like a cornered beast on the brink, radiating a suffocating mix of rage and desperation.

"Where's Claire?" He seized the receptionist's wrist, his grip so tight she cried out in pain. "Where is she?"

The entire lobby fell into dead silence.

The HR director stepped forward, trembling. "M-Mr. Quinn… Ms. Sterling… She submitted an overseas assignment request this morning. She's… already left."

"Left?" Ethan's pupils shrank. "Where?"

"Doplaytho… three-year term. It was voluntary. All procedures were followed," the director said, voice shaking. "As for the exact country… it wasn't filed. We don't know."

"You don't know?" Ethan flipped the reception desk in one violent motion.

Documents, coffee cups, and monitors crashed to the floor in a chaotic mess.

"What do I pay you people for? You can't even keep track of one person?"

Everyone recoiled in fear. No one dared speak.

He staggered into the elevator and hit the button for the underground garage.

His phone buzzed violently on the way down—a screenshot from his assistant.

It was a voluntary overseas assignment application—filed under Claire's name.

It was signed two hours ago.

Right when he had just been wheeled out of surgery, tubes still running through his body.

He stared at the line, his fingers trembling so badly he could barely hold the phone.

While his life hung in the balance, she signed the papers to leave.

Then why save him with her blood? Why save him… only to disappear without a word?

In the underground parking garage, cold air swept through the space.

Ethan leaned against the car door, but it wasn't enough. His strength gave out, and he dropped to one knee.

Pain exploded from his injured shoulder, radiating through every limb, every nerve. It made it hard to breathe.

But worse than the physical agony was the emptiness in his chest—a hollow ruin where something once lived.

His mind drifted back to three months ago, to the moment he learned Claire had returned.

God knew how happy he had been. Five years of resentment had seemed to dissolve in an instant.

She had just come back then, looking worn and exhausted.

He had done everything to keep her at the company—shutting down the board's objections, creating a secretary position just for her, keeping track of her every move. All of it, just to keep her by his side.

He gave her the best projects, made sure she had every chance to prove herself. When investors gave her trouble, he stood behind her without hesitation.

At the annual gala, she had been drugged and taken away. The moment he saw it, his breath had nearly stopped—he was the one who burst into the private room and pulled her out.

When Adrian set up her kidnapping, Ethan went in alone. Even when he was badly injured, he never let her go.

He had believed that if he was strong enough—if he kept her close, gave her everything, treated her better than anyone else ever could—then maybe she would stay. He would have torn out his own heart just to show her how real it was.

And in the end, she still left.

This time, all she left behind was a cold, impersonal application form.